Today we’d like to introduce you to Valeria Chavez.
Hi Valeria, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in two countries, I was born in McAllen, Texas which borders Reynosa Tamaulipas. I still have family that lives in Mexico and we would cross the border and come back several times a week. It was a very unique experience, of course I didn’t know this until I got older when I realized that not everyone was able to get all their healthcare and dental needs met for very cheap in Mexico along with crossing the border just to go have lunch, buying duty-free alcohol and going to night clubs under the age of 18. A lot has changed since then but I still go get some dental work and visit family in Reynosa. I am the oldest of six, my brothers and sisters are quintuplets, I was ecstatic to be an older sister and without knowing it, I placed the responsibility on myself that I had to set an example for them.
Growing up, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and since I wasn’t sure college seemed like the next step after high school, as a first-generation Mexican American and the first in my family to attend college, I felt a huge responsibility to get a degree. I was studying marketing but felt so lost because although I knew that that wasn’t what I wanted, I had no clue what I wanted to do. I’m not sure if it was the need for attention from having so many siblings or loving to dance and perform but one day while I was working at a Direct TV call center the idea that I wanted to pursue acting just popped in my head, they had tvs at work playing movies, mostly movie previews and this one day the had the preview of Mad Money starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katy Holmes playing on a loop. I don’t know what about this movie made me think yes, this is exactly what I want to do with my life but that was it. At this point, I only had one year left to finish my degree and I just thought well might as well finish, there was the constant battle in my head of whether I could actually pursue acting. I graduated, decided that I would move to California, I just needed to get a decent job and save up money and off I would go. During this time, I came in contact with a Middle School sweetheart and we began to date, I let him know about my plans and two years later, we moved to Los Angeles, we are now engaged. I remember reading about the story of Rosario Dawson sitting on her buildings front step when she was discovered and went on to get a role in the movie Kids, I wished this for me. But that didn’t happen, when we first move to Los Angeles, I worked at several office jobs to pay very expensive rent and tried my best to figure out how the hell you get on TV. It was hard, feeling like I had sacrificed so much to work a 8-5 just to just pay bills. But eventually, I did figure it out and am still figuring it out, I started taking classes, going out on auditions got a manager and agent.
I have booked several costars including Glow where I was able to act alongside Alison Brie on Glow, I booked my first feature-length film for an independent movie Called Guadalajara and was a stand in for Melissa McCarthy on a film in post-production called The Starling. I have been in California for eight years and feel that I have just started to scratch the surface of the entertainment industry, I have also learned so much about myself and life because of acting and now going thru this pandemic; the most important one would be to be patient and to be grateful for your life, health, family and friends. I continue to learn, take classes, to audition and estoy muy excited for the future and things to come. The film Guadalajara will be released in 2021, and I am making a personal commitment to myself to start and finish my script about my story as a first-generation Mexican American living in a border town with quintuplet brother and sisters and having parents who although didn’t know any English they did their best to push us forward to have opportunities they did not have.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road but I have learned so much. I think the biggest struggles are within yourself, especially self-doubt and learning to be extremely patient. You get sold on this idea of overnight success and you quickly learn that overnight success is actually years of hard work, dedication, failures and small victories.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see the entertainment industry changing, I have started to see more and more diversity in tv and film in my auditions. I hope that this trend continues and that we create more opportunities to tell our stories.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.imdb.me/valeriachavez
